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YNHH Chief Clinical Officer Thomas Balcezak.
“200 percent accountability”: Top Yale New Haven Health administrators and clinicians preached that healthcare maxim for how best to minimize the likelihood of Connecticut experiencing the same type of Covid-19 resurgence currently raging throughout the country.
How it works? People must wash their hands, wear masks, and practice social distancing themselves — and encourage others who are not taking those steps to do the same.
That message came Wednesday morning during Yale New Haven Health’s latest Covid-19 virtual press briefing, held online via Zoom and Facebook Live.
YNHH President and CEO Marna Borgstrom and YNHH Chief Clinical Officer Thomas Balcezak said that the “200 percent accountability” idea is critical for Connecticut residents to practice and spread as the state looks to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“When I see someone who’s not washing their hands, I expect that person to be accountable,” Balcezak said. “But I’m also accountable. If I see that person not doing it, I’m accountable for reminding them.”
He said the same is true for isolating when sick, practicing social distancing of six feet or more when in public, and wearing face coverings.
“There is great evidence that simple masking works,” he said. “When you don’t do that, you’re a potential spreader.”
The advice comes as the country is reeling from new spikes in coronavirus-related infections and hospitalizations.
The United States saw over 65,000 new Covid-19 cases reported on Tuesday, with new daily records set in California and Texas.
Borgstrom and Balcezak said that Connecticut, so far, has avoided the brunt of this new spike. That’s in part thanks to how many people have kept physical distances, worn masks, washed their hands frequently and thoroughly, and stayed home from work when sick, Balcezak said.
“I think Connecticut has an awful lot to be proud of.”
Borgstrom (pictured) said that the regional YNHH system, which includes seven hospital campuses in Connecticut and Rhode Island, has a total of 25 Covid-positive in-patients right now. That’s down from a system-wide high on April 21 of over 800 Covid-positive in-patients.
She said that 14 of those current in-patients are at Yale New Haven Hospital. Seven of those current in-patients are at Bridgeport Hospital.
She warned against Connecticut residents falling into a “false sense of complacency” because of these encouraging numbers. And yet, she said, “I think we’ve done a lot of the right things” to mitigate spread in the past few weeks and months.
Balcezak said that the hospital system has conducted a total of 110,000 Covid-19 tests since the start of the pandemic. System-wide, YNHH is now conducting roughly 2,000 tests a day.
He said that the hospital system recently completed a testing survey of roughly 12,000 asymptomatic YNHH employees and medical staff. He said that only 0.24 percent, or around 20 employees, tested positive while asymptomatic. He said those employees were sent home from work to isolate for 14 days.
Balcezak said that the hospital’s testing of asymptomatic patients who need procedures has yielded a higher positivity rate.
Of the several thousand such asymptomatic patients that the hospital has tested, he said, 0.7 percent have tested positive.
“The incidence of this disease among our employees is less than half of that among the general public for those that are asymptomatic,” he said.
In regards to the 0.24 percent positivity number for asymptomatic employees, Balcezak said, “That’s an incredibly low number and gives us a lot of confidence that our employees and medical staff are protected and that our patients are safe.”
Borgstrom was asked about a recent estimate from the Connecticut Hospital Association that hospitals in the state are projected to lose around $2 billion thanks to the demands of the pandemic and the drop in elective surgeries. She said that YNHH has seen a “tremendous loss in revenue, in part because we were telling patients not to come in, in part because patients were worried about being exposed. We spent a tremendous amount of money in ways we didn’t anticipate spending it.”
She and Balcezak encouraged patients who need medical attention to reach out to their providers and come to the hospital if necessary, and not to delay treatment out of a fear that they might catch Covid at the hospital.